INDIANS IN FRANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 147, 16 November 1914, Page 8

INDIANS IN FRANCE.

SCEXES AT MABSEILLES. PATH STREWS WITH FLOWERS. Great scenes of enthusiasm were witnessed at Marseilles as the soldiers marched from the docks to the camps outside the town, preparatory to their ■'entraining to the fighting line. The organisation was perfect. The transports ■ arrived to time, without the loss of a single man. It should he added that the army is complete in itself. Everything has come from India, even the prayingmats.' '

The voyage had been made under excellent conditions, and the troops, who arc said to have, literally leapt ashore, were fighting men to the last ouncehard and lit, and ready, had the word of command been given and had the thing been practicable, to inarch straight from the quay to the lighting line. Not a few of the Sikhs, lithe, black-bearded giants, were deeply concerned to know if the war would be over before they could got to grips with the common enemy, and it was a burden off their minds when they were assured that there was no likelihood of anything of the kind coining to pass.

Never lias the Port of Marseilles witnessed a scene so kaleidoscopic as that presented hy the thousands after thousands of Sikhs, Ohurkas, Hindoos, l'unjabs, Bengal Lancers, and British soldiers who disembarked from the transports. The Daily Mail special correspondent writes:—"The scene in the afternoon when tliß troops marched through to the different camping grounds, was unforgettable, livery man, woman and child in Marseilles turned out, their numbers were swelled by the people who had rushed in from the surrounding country districts, and the streets were seething masses of highly-excited humanity. The excitement of the highly-strung Latins rapidly spread tothe Indians, and it was a unique spectacle to see hundreds of martial warriors, bearded men whose hair was shot with grey, and beardless youths, jump a yard high in the air for sheer joy. The officers looked on with lenient eye. Old women fought with men for the honor of shaking hands with the bronzed soldiers, whom they impartially named 'Anglais' and 'Hindoos,' and young women and girls threw sweet-smelling flowers in their path or pinned pink roses on their tunics, in their turbans, and even stuck them into the Indians' long hair. In response the dark Eastern eyes beamed with content, and rows of marvellously white teeth beamed from smiling mouths. The ranks were broken as I am certain they will not be broken by an enemy, and as hour after hour column after column of soldiers and service waggon after service waggon moved slow, past a wonderfully impressive picture was presented. The enthusiasm of the populace became ecstacy when a hand of swarthy Gurhkas struck up the 'Marsellaise,' and played it enchantingly on a weird collection of gourd-like instruments. As one man the crowd rushed the troops on to the pavement, and down a long avenue they marched—horses and mules as well—between the kerb and the cafe terraces. By the evening they were encamped in picturesque parks, with rocky heights, reminiscent of their far-away hills, around them, and in the moonlight, groups of Marseillaise stood on the adjacent roads watching with unflagging interest the strange eastern rites" of these magnificent fighting men from Britain's great Dominion."